How to Declutter a Kid’s Room Using Built-Ins

Toys, linens, games, crafts, and crayons — a kid’s room is full of life, and full of lots and lots of small things. Without a home for everything, those belongings can overtake the room, which makes tidying up a bigger chore than it has to be. And most important, you want to learn how to declutter with storage your kids will find easy to use.

Toy boxes and storage tubs are one way to house the things in your kid’s room, but they take up a lot of floor space. With built-ins, you get lots storage, but keep plenty of floor space for the important stuff — playtime!

Here are a few ideas to spark your creativity and help declutter your kid's room.

No Room for Built-Ins? Use the Closet

Some rooms are too small to add built-ins for storage. But you can turn any double-size closet into built-in storage with the right materials.

A small chest of drawers slides back into the space, so the front edge is flush with the rest of the wall. Add a hanging bar, shelves, and baskets from a closet organizer system, and you’ve got a built-in that takes no extra space in the room. It also uses the old closet space in a more efficient way, since you decide how it's set up.

Another interesting idea with a closet conversion is using one side as a reading nook. Install a bench inside with a few cushions, and it's a perfect area for looking at picture books and learning ABCs.

How to Declutter Using Cubbies and Shelves

Your kid’s room might not be this spacious, but you can use the idea in almost any size room. All of the moveable toys are on shelves or in baskets and tubs, and everything is on display without being cluttered.

Add splashes of bright color on the back walls of the cubbies, and maybe throw in a chalkboard wall for fun, and you have a room that’s pure inspiration.

Chalkboard paint is available in cans, ready-to-use. It rolls on just like any other paint, but the wall should be very smooth before it’s applied.

How to Declutter Using Built-Ins

There are built-ins, and then there are custom designed works of creative art and function. Imagine the look on your kid’s face when he or she sees this terrific fort in what might have been a rather ordinary bedroom.

This built-in includes storage in clever and unexpected ways. The bed is on a platform, with space below for a play area. When your child grows, this space easily converts into a desk area for homework.

Steps to the bunk double as drawers, and a closet tucks under the steps. The railing is sturdy, more like a durable stair railing than bed rails, but it serves both purposes.

Many handy carpenters can design something perfect, even if it’s completely different from this creation, for your daughter or son.

Under-Bed Storage Help Declutter Kids Rooms

The space underneath most kids’ beds is a home for wayward toys, lost shoes, and missing socks. With built-in storage under the bed, the space is reclaimed, and you won’t have to worry about vacuuming underneath again.

You can purchase, build, or hire out the construction of beds with storage underneath. While you’re at it, why not think about adding something different? These bunk beds have drawers underneath the mattresses, but they’re also built into a corner unit that’s perfect for books and reading.

Built-ins add visual substance to a room, but they do something more. Where storage might have been a series of cabinets, containers, and other odds and ends, they pull everything out to the perimeter of the room. This keeps the middle of the room freer and more spacious.

There is hardly any limit to what you can incorporate into built-in storage. A hamper against the wall is more likely to capture dirty clothes when it’s designed as a lift-top box with a hole in the top. Kids toss in clothes, so tidying up is more like a game.

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